Guest post: New Rules for Young Drivers to Improve Safety & Reduce Premiums

There has long been talk of changing the laws regarding younger driver in an attempt to improve safety on the roads and now it seems that the UK Government has finally announced its intention to implement such rules. For many years it has been a known fact that younger drivers are at a higher risk of becoming involved in a road accident and the suggested new rules will aim to considerably reduce this risk.

What Will The New Rules Be?

It is important to note that the suggested new rules are simply proposals and it has not yet been decided which, if any, of the suggestions will be implemented. The proposed restrictions for new drivers include:

– The introduction of a minimum amount of time that a driver must spend as a learner before they are allowed to sit their practical driving test.

– Learners would be allowed to take lessons on motorways to ensure that all learners are prepared for motorway driving once they have passed their test.

– Enabling learners to have lessons during adverse weather conditions and in darkness to prepare learners for driving in all conditions.

– The current ‘probation period’ for a new driver is 2 years. This period refers to the length of time that a new driver’s licence will be revoked if they receive 6 or more points. It has been suggested that this period should be increased to 3 years.

– Proposals to make the driving test more rigorous in order to prepare learners for unsupervised driving.

– Introduction of incentives to encourage newly passed drivers to take up additional training such as the Pass Plus training scheme.

How Would These Rules Affect Young Drivers?

Many young drivers may actually see these proposals as unfair; however, the desired decrease in accidents may result in lower insurance prices for all young drivers. Newly passed and young drivers are renowned for being dangerous on the roads and statistics have supported this view:

– An 18 year old driver is three times more likely to be involved in a road accident than a 48 year old driver.

– 1 in 5 new drivers will have an accident within 6 months of passing their test.

– Over 25% of all road accidents are caused by drivers under 25.

The question is: can these proposed restrictions actually make a difference to road safety? The similar restrictions in America have actually decreased the number of road accidents involving young, new drivers by 37%. As yet it’s unclear which new rules will be implemented, when they will come into force and how successful they will be but the promise of safer roads and lower car insurance costs is something to smile about!

This article was written by Jennifer Griffiths who welcomes the thought of lower insurance costs! To keep her costs down and protect her no claims bonus when a friend wants to borrow her car, she recommends that they go to Insure 4 a Day to take out a separate short term car insurance policy.